Archive for October, 2006

I found it! After years of searching, I have found the world’s most perfect visual representation of The Weather Girls’ classic homage to the nearly constant homoprecipitation that befell the earth in the early 1980’s. Oh, it’s raining men alright, and Roger from the MOKS Marketing Department just loves splashing around in the puddles – IF ya’ know what I mean.

Five Skeins of Alpaca with a Twist’s Big Baby from A Craftsman’s Touch Alpaca Co. goes to Amy of Crazy Lanea (please note that I left it in the sealed bag, unfondled. I do have will power after all! Go me!)

A skein of autumnal lovliness from Briar Rose Fiber goes to Kris of Kris Crafts! (Must. Remember. Will. Power. Must stop wondering if she’d notice if I replaced it with Red Heart and kept it for myself.)

A klassy alpaca tie knit by yours truly using a pattern from the MOKS book goes to Jenny at Eat.Knit.Sleep. (Jenny, I swear I’ll weave in the ends before sending it!)

Oh my stars, I haven’t done the drawing yet! OK, I’m going to do it tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. If you managed to find everyone on your card, please let me know so you can be in a second drawing. Everyone who signed up is automatically entered in the main drawing. I need to figure out the best way to do this thing. I think I’ll have the hubby pick out some random numbers. Everyone is listed in a nice, color-coded excel spreadsheet, so I think that’ll work well. I have 10 prizes to give away. I’ve gotten to fondle four of them, and those were pretty darned good.

Rhinebeck has been over for days and I’m still exhausted. I can actually feel the bags under my eyes. But what a blast it was! I spent most of my time at the booth signing books, but I did venture out now and again. I made it to the blogger meetup on Saturday and it just cracked me up to see everyone running to a fro with their bingo cards. I feel like I gave everyone homework. I guess I did. But I was delighted to see everyone having such a good time. I met loads of people and still didn’t get to say hi to everyone who was playing. I feel like I missed a lot this year. There were people I meant to look for at the festival and I missed Carole’s Winebeck party. I bought wine and everything. It was Pinot Grigio called “Ciao Bella” and the label featured a lady wearing what I decided was a wool sweater and hand knit beret. I also ended up falling asleep early on Saturday night and missed out on an evening with fellow Rhinebeckestonians in the lobby of the hotel. I also didn’t make it to the Morehouse Merino event on Saturday night. Geez, I’m no spring chicken, I’ll tell you what.

But it was lovely to play the Diva and make everyone come to me. Not a lot of Divas put out cookies, but I did lapse into Whitney Houston mode and started referring to people as “Bobbaayyy!” for a while. Next year, Kellee, Elisa, Maryse, and Melanie are demanding MOKS Staff t-shirts. I think I shall comply. Maryse was my sherpa on Saturday morning. She helped me lug four heavy boxes of book to the grounds. Kellee was my handler on Sunday afternoon to make sure I had some time to shop a little before getting back to the booth to do more signing. Melanie and Elisa were my unwavering supporters, and they lounged with me on Saturday night so I didn’t feel bad staying in.

David and Mel, who ran the booth where I was stationed, where just as adorable as can be. I actually really missed them when I got back to work on Tuesday. Monday is a blur. I was catatonic for most of the day. I think I got over socialized. I had signings in NJ and NY from Wednesday through Sunday, so I did a lot of driving (and getting lost) and met a lot of people and . . . well, you know how when you pet a cat for too long and they all of a sudden start biting you and kicking you with their back feet? I started to feel like that. Waaaay overstimulated. I almost went bunny feet, you guys!

All the signings went really well. I finally got the hang of it and now that I don’t use notes, it’s lot less stressful. If I forget to say something, it’s no biggie, I just think of something else. Easy peasy. I ended up blowing a bunch of my Rhinebeck budget at the yarn stores I visited before getting to Rhinebeck. I’ll take photos in the next couple of days and tell you about the places I visited and the stuff I got. October has been a crazy month to say the very least. And it’s not over yet! I’ll be at the Elegant Ewe in Concord, NH on 10/28 at 1:00. Drop by if you’re in the neighborhood!

My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who played bingo, stopped by to see me at the signings, have left comments and been so supportive. It really means a lot to get the amazing feedback that I do. I often get too busy to respond to everyone or spend as much time as I’d like with people, but just know that I really do appreciate everyone’s well wishes and good thoughts! Thank you!!

And now that bingo is over (for this year), I’ll actually have a bit of time to do some non-bingo-related blogging! Wheee! I actually have some stuff to show you, too! I just need to catch up a little at my day job first . . . (famous last words if I ever heard ’em)

If anyone else is interested in donating a prize, there’s still time. Puh-lenty of time since I’m not drawing names until after Rhinebeck. So shoot me an email or leave a comment!

I’ll be at Woodstock, NY -‚ Woodstock Wool Company (105 Tinker Street) today at 3:00. By the time I get to Rhinebeck, I’ll have blown my budget! Stix-n-Stitches‚ has the most amazing selection and I left there with a nice haul‚ 9i’ll show you when I get home, I got camnesia an totally forgot the camera!) and I’ve heard great things about the Woodstock Wool Company. I may have to panhandle for sock yarn at Rhinebeck . . .

See you soon! I need to check out of this hotel in exactly‚ 2 minutes and I don’t know where my shoes are!

OK, more updates. Susan of NEEDLES‚ AND STASH‚ won’t be able to make Rhinebeck. Boooo! We hope she has a speedy recovery.‚ So if you have the card named either “Both7″ or “Sat1″, kindly replace Susan’s square with Tina of Phoenix Fiberworks.

Also, Debi of Wild and Wooly Fibers will only be attending on Saturday. She mentioned that she may hand her square off to a fellow guild member on Sunday. Debi is on the card named “Sun2″, so check her blog to read about her Sunday replacement.

I’m in New Jersey right now, blogging from the hotel. Very weird. Ever since I got rid of the notes I used for my presentation, it’s gotten WAY better! Turns out I work a lot better just kind of off-the-cuff.‚ I was at Barnes and‚ Noble in Paramus last night and it was a great time. They booked me on the same night as their regular knitting group and they’re a great bunch of folks. And I actually got some knitting in!

‚ I’ll write more about my stops after Rhinebeck. I can barely keep track in‚ my head, I just need to process it all, but I don’t think I’ll be able to until it’s all over.‚ For now, I need to find a post office and get ready to head off to Stix-n-Stitches!